Combination bed and lounge



Jan. 27, 1970 c. Jomo'k m COMBINATION BED AND LOUNGE Filed March, 21, 1968 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 United States Patent COMBINATION BED AND LOUNGE Clarence Johnson, Duluth, and Ber] L. Stockwell, Park Rapids, Minn., assignors to The Tilt-A-Bed Corporation,

Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Mar. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 714,911 Int. Cl. A47c 7/14, 7/22, 17/04 US. Cl. -12 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bed convertible into a lounge or sofa having a flat base for supporting a mattress and an upright headboard. A back rest pivotally mounted on a support secured to the base adjacent the headboard is movable from a horizontal position or a prone position over a corner section of the bed to an upright position to uncover all of the bed. A spring biases the back rest in the direction of the upright position.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention relates to convertible furniture which may be used either as a bed or a lounge. Motels, hotels and apartments use combination bed and lounges to conserve room space and utilize the room as a meeting or living room as well as a sleeping room. The combination bed and lounge of the invention has a frame means for horizontally supporting a mattress. Secured to one end of the frame means is an upright head member extended transversely across the upper end of the mattress. A back rest is movably positioned in a first position to cover a portion of the mattress and to a second position away from the mattress to expose all of the mattress. A support means secured to the frame means adjacent the head member is movably connected to the back rest to direct the movement of the back rest from the first position to the second position. To reduce the effort required to raise the back rest a biasing means is used to aid the movement of the back rest to the second position.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the combination bed and lounge of the invention with the back rest in the down position;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the combination bed and lounge with the back rest in the up position;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the combination bed and lounge of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view similar to FIGURE 4 with the back rest in the up position; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIGURE 5.

Referring to the drawings there is shown in FIGURE 1, the combination bed and lounge or bed-lounge of the invention indicated generally at 10 set up as a lounge or sofa. The bed-lounge has a rectangular mattress 11 horizontally supported on a frame indicated generally at 12. Located adjacent the head end of mattress 11 is an upright head member or headboard 13 secured to the frame 12. A back rest indicated generally at 14 extends over a corner portion of the mattress 11 and one end of the head member 13. As shown in FIGURE 4, supports indicated generally at 16 located adjacent the head member 13 in a box shaped housing 17 pivotally connects the back rest 14 to the frame 12 whereby the back rest can be moved from a first prone position, shown in FIGURE 1, to a second upright position, shown in FIGURE 2, to uncover or expose the entire mattress 11. The back rest 14 is located within the confines of the frame 12 so that a minimum of amount of floor space is needed to utilize the combination of bed-lounge. A special wall and/or track construction for the combination bed and lounge is not needed to convert the bed into a lounge and change the lounge into a bed.

Returning to FIGURE 4, frame 12 has a flat base 18 which can be a rigid plywood sheet or similar rigid sheet material. Secured to the ends and sides of the base 18 are upright peripheral members 19 surrounding the bed area of the bed-lounge. Located on the flat base 18 within the area defined by the peripheral members 19 are a plurality of spaced transverse slats 21 which support the box spring 25 carrying the mattress 11. The transverse slats 21 are secured to the separate coil springs (not shown) of the box spring whereby the box spring 25 is attached to the base 18. Secured to the bottom of base 18 are downwardly directed legs 22 supporting the frame 12 on floor 24. Each leg 22 has a longitudinal roller 23 to permit easy lateral movement of the bed-lounge on the floor.

Back rest 14 is a generally inverted box shaped unit having a substantially flat top 26 and downwardly extended side walls 27. A downwardly divergent cushion 28 is secured to one side and the front end of the wall 27. The back rest 14 has an inclined rear portion 29 which terminates in a downwardly directed lip 31. Spaced forwardly in the lip 31 is a transverse shelf or cross member 32 which defines with the side walls 27 and top wall 26, a chamber 33 for covering bedding 34, as pillows, blankets and the like used in the making of the bed. Shelf 32 is located adjacent the front side of the head member 13 to confine the bedding 34 to the mattress 11 as well as provide a shelf, as shown in FIGURE 5, adjacent the top of the head member 13.

Box shaped housing 17 located adjacent one half of the head member 13 comprises upright end walls 36 and 37 and a side wall 38. Located adjacent side wall 37 and extended along the other opposite half of the head member 13 are an upper horizontal shelf 39 and a lower horizontal shelf 41 which serve as an end table or a night stand adjacent the head member 13.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the support 16 located in the block shaped housing 17 comprises a pair of upright tubular posts 42 and 43 secured at their lower ends to brackets 44 and 46 respectively mounted on the base 18 and lower portion of the head member 13. The lip 31 of the back rest has cutouts or recesses 47 for the posts 42 and 43 when the head rest is in the upright position as shown in FIGURES 2, 5 and 6. The upper portions of the posts 42 and 43 are secured to the head member 13 by a plurality of fasteners 48, as bolts, screws or the like. In this manner the posts 42 and 43 are solidly secured to both the base 18 and the head member 13.

The back rest 14 has a forward portion located over the box shaped housing 17. Pivot means indicated generally at 41 movably mount the back rest 14 on the supports 16. The pivot means 49 compirses a first sleeve 51 having a downwardly projected leg 52 telescoped into the top of post 42 and a second sleeve 53 axially aligned with the first sleeve 51. The sleeve 53 has a downwardly projected leg 54 extended into the top of post 43. Legs 52 and 54 align the back rest on the bed and releasably mount the sleeves on the upright posts 42 and 43. A transverse rod 56 is rotatably mounted in the sleeves 51 and 53. Secured to the opposite ends of the rod 56 are plates 57 and 58 fastened to the side walls 27 of the head rest 14 so as to fix the rod 56 to the head rest. Positioned about the rod 56 is a torsion coil spring 59 having one end 61 extended into an anchor collar 62 secured to the top of sleeve 53 to hold the end 61 in an anchored or fixed position. The opposite end 63 of spring 59 extends into a nut 64 threaded on rod 56. A second or lock 3 nut 66 located on rod 56 adjacent nut 64 holds the adjusted position of nut 64. The tension on spring 59 is adjusted by rotating nut 64 so that spring 59 will bias the back rest 14 toward the up position.

The rod 56 is secured to the lower portion of the side walls 27 so that when the back rest 14 is in the up position, as shown in FIGURE 5, the center of gravity of the back rest is forward of the pivot means. The biasing force of the spring 59 coupled with the forward location of the center of gravity of the back rest holds the back rest in the up position. A releasable latch can be provided to lock the back rest in the up position. To move the back rest 14 back to the down or prone position shown in FIGURES 1 and 3, the back rest must be rotated downwardly in the direction of arrow 67, shown in FIGURE 5, against the biasing force of spring 59. The weight of the back rest 14 is suflicient to maintain the back rest in the prone position. The spring 59 merely reduced the amount of efiort necessary to raise the back rest from the down position to the upright position.

In use the combination bed-lounge is shown FIGURES 1 and 3 as a lounge or couch having a back rest suitable for use in a room where space is of a premium, as in hotel or motel rooms and eificiency apartments. The back rest 14 located over the mattress 11 forms a chamber 33 for bedding 34 which is hidden from view when the back rest is in the down position.

To convert the bed-lounge 10 into a bed the back rest 7 14 is pivoted to the upright position. This is conveniently done by moving the back rest in an upward direction with the aid of torsion coil spring 59 until the back rest is in the overcenter position relative to the pivot means 49. The inclined forward end 29 of the back rest moves down into the housing 17 and the shelf 32 is in the horizontal, a position adjacent the top of the head member 13. With the back rest 14 in the up position the entire mattress 11 is uncovered.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention it is understood that various changes, deletions, and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention is defined in the following claims:

1. A combination bed-lounge comprising: frame means including a base member for horizontally supporting a mattress, an upright head member secured to the base member and extended transversely across the front end of the base member adjacent the head end of the mattress, support means secured to the base member, said support means located in front of the head member away from the mattress, a back rest movable to a first horizontal position to cover a portion of the mattress, and movable to a second upright position away from the mattress over the support means to uncover all of the mattress, and means movably mounting the back rest on the support means.

2. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the base member is a flat rigid sheet member.

3. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the frame means includes upright end members and an upright side member secured to the end members, said base member, head member, end members and side members forming a boxlike housing around the support means.

4. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the back rest has a generally rectanguar box-shape with a portion extended over the support means.

5. The bed-lounge of claim 4 wherein the back rest has a generally fiat top and at least one downwardly and outwardly inclined cushion.

6. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the means movably mounting the back rest comprise transverse pivot means connecting the back rest with the support means.

7. The bed-lounge of claim 6 including spring means cooperating with the pivot means to bias the back rest to the second position.

8. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the frame means includes an upright side member extended generally parallel to the head member and upright end members secured to the head member, side member, and base member forming a box-like housing around the support means and horizontal shelf means secured to the head member and one end member of the housing.

9. The bed-lounge of claim 1 wherein the means movably mounting the back rest comprise a transverse rod secured to the forward end of the back rest and sleeve means rotatably mounting the transverse rod on the support means.

10. The bed-loung of claim 9 wherein the support means includes upright tubular member, said sleeve means having legs which cooperate with the tubular members to releasably mount the sleeve means on the support means.

11. The bed-lounge of claim 9 including a torsion coil spring positioned about the rod, means securing one end of the spring to the rod, and means securing the other end of the spring to the support means.

12. A combination bed-lounge comprising: a base member for horizontally supporting a mattress, support means secured to the base member forwardly of the head end or the mattress, a back rest movable to a first horizontal position to cover a portion of the mattress, and movable to a second upright position away from the mattress to uncover all of the mattress, and pivot means movably mounting the back rest on the support means, said pivot means including a transverse member secured to the back rest and rotatably mounted on the support means, and biasing means acting on the transverse member to urge the back rest to the second upright position.

13. The bed-lounge of claim 12 wherein the support means comprise upright tubular members secured to the base, and said pivot means include sleeve means mounted on the tubular members and said transverse member secured to the back rest rotatably mounted in the tubular members.

14. The bed-lounge of claim 13 wherein the biasing means comprise torsion coil spring means positioned about the transverse member for biasing the back rest to the second upright position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 553

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3,491 383 January 27, 1970 Clarence Johnson et a1 It is eertified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 57, "compirses" should read comprises Column 4, line 22 "loung" should read lounge line 58, "3,151,578" should read 3,151,576

Signed and sealed this 17th day of November 1970.

(S L) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Ir.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. 

